Community Resource Teams and Their Impact on at Risk Youth Essay

“Community policing is, in essence, a collaboration between the police and the community that identifies and solves community problems” (U.S. Department of Justice, 1994, p. vii). Throughout the years, community policing has become a more popular strategy to help law enforcement officials control and deter crime; however, some areas across the United States has had problems in the past with communities and law enforcement working together to ensure a secure and safe environment. Although it is an officer’s duty to maintain order, keep the peace, and solve problems within the area he or she

Incidents like abuse from family members, bullying, neglect, and sexual abuse are the most common. Repeated abuse can lead to psychological damage and emotional scarring. Not only are traumatic psychological experiences causing these juveniles to commit violent crimes. Situations, where children have poor education, a household without discipline, peer pressure, inadequate role models, low income, and substance abuse coupled with the wrong environment, can lead to a life of crime. These negative influences guide these juveniles on the wrong path towards crime. However, it does not mean these juveniles cannot succeed; it is however up to the juvenile to make the correct choices in their

Policing is a very difficult, complex and dynamic field of endeavor that is always evolves as hard lessons teach us what we need to know about what works and what don’t work. There are three different Era’s in America’s policing: The Political Era, The Reform Era, and The Community Problem Solving Era. A lot has changed in the way that policing works over the years in the United States.

Due to these apparent successes, the problem-focused approach has been used to address a diverse array of problems such as gangs, drugs, school crime and the management of police call for service in urban, suburban and even rural communities. The exploration of possible responses to a problem is handled by police officers. Once a problem is identified, officers are expected to work closely with the community members to develop a solution, which can include a wide range of alternatives to arrest. These may focus on the offender, the community, the environment, outside agencies, or the need for some kind of mediation. Problem-oriented policing grew out of twenty years of research into police practices, and differs from traditional policing strategies in many significant ways. For example, problem-oriented policing enables police agencies to be more effective. Currently, police agencies commit most of their time to responding to calls for service. Problem-oriented policing offers a more effective strategy by addressing the

Nevertheless, the key to the improvement of the quality of life and perception of crime in these neighborhoods is the officer’s ability to listen to neighbors, working with them to creatively address issues. ROPE is the neighborhood’s liaison with government resources, including the police, providing an immediate link to community policing efforts throughout the City Of Elgin. The identification of neighborhood issues, followed by a coordination of effort lead by the police with City departments, is the key to ROPE success. Each neighborhood poses issues requiring unique solutions. ROPE, in concert with an enhanced department philosophy of community policing, offers an opportunity to benefit neighborhoods across the City of Elgin. Also, the ability to identify a problem and find its solution is one aspect of ROPE that provides both challenges and rewards to the officer and neighbors. The personal contact with the neighborhood is an immeasurable benefit of the program. The program provides a constant challenge to solve problems while living and working in the neighborhood that a resident officer must realize. Scheduling must be flexible, contrary to traditional policing, to allow officers the ability to address quality

The Community Policing era has been one of the contemporary police activities in the last 30 years. It is more of a decentralized approach to reducing crime by involving the same officer in the same community on a long term basis, so residents will develop trust and then provide information and assistance to the officer. Community Policing does not replace motorized patrol or other police tactics but instead compliments them with community partnership and problem solving (Bailey, 2011).

An estimated 9.2 million to 15.8 million children are considered "at-risk" in this country encompassing all ages from 13 to 19 years old. These youth are at-risk because they are at a crossroad: one leads to successful transition to adulthood, the other to dependency and negative long-term consequences. Youth typically considered or identified as at-risk are more likely to become pregnant, use drugs and/or alcohol, drop out of school, be unemployed, engage in violence and face an increased likelihood of a host of mental health problems, which in turn places them at high risk for entering the juvenile and criminal justice system.

Community policing has evolved to be the most used strategy for policing. “It is an approach to crime detection and prevention that provides police officers and supervisors with new tools for addressing recurrent problems that plague communities and consume a majority of police agency time and resources” (Peak, 2012, 65). It has been defined by various people differently. But all the definitions have similar principles (Chappell, 2009). They focus on proactive problem solving and create relationships with the community to address any issue that may arise. Community policing is a combination of client-oriented and problem-oriented policing.

Although many may find community policing and problem-oriented policing to fall in the same category, there is (surprisingly) a difference between the two. For one, community policing has many definitions. For some, it means instituting foot and bicycle patrols and doing acts pertaining to the ideal bond between police officers and their community. While for others it means maintaining order and cleaning up neighborhoods in desperate need of repair (Dunham & Alpert, 2005). However, an idyllic definition of community policing is altering the traditional definition of crime control to community problem-solving and promising to transform the way police do their job. Within the past two decades, there has been much research on community

There are several law enforcement agencies that have incorporated community-oriented policing programs as a part of their philosophy. The key element to community policing is crime prevention. Memphis police department and Pasadena police department have formed partnerships with their communities to help in reducing recidivism. Each of these agencies has several community policing programs that they have established to improve the quality of life for their citizens. Memphis and Pasadena have a program that is targeted for juveniles. Memphis’s is a Community Outreach Program (C.O.P.) that was developed to reduce juvenile violence. Pasadena’s came up with the diversion program,

The Highlands is a low-income community that is facing a major issue with crime caused by adolescents. Instances of criminal activity inflicted by the youth in a community is an issue that plagues many areas in our country. The Highlands is facing types of criminal activity that frequently ranges from vandalism, theft, burglaries and assaults on other members of the community. There is also a fear from the community that gangs from neighboring areas are going to move into The Highlands. The areas schools have about a 40% drop out rate and a not very diverse, but committed, police department. City officials and leaders of the community want to decrease the area’s crime rate by being more proactive with its adolescents and the opportunities

The Boston Model is a comprehensive policing strategy implemented by the Boston Police Department in an attempt to better protect and serve Boston’s youth, as well as the population as a whole (Boston Police Department [BPD], n.d.) The strategy consists of three major pillars: intervention, enforcement and prevention (BPD, n.d.). These methodologies are all believed to work together to confront what the Boston Police Department portrays as the growing problem of youth violence and crime. As Siegel and Welsh (2012) describe, youth who enter the juvenile justice system may face a range of challenges beyond just a criminal charge. The strategy outlined in the Boston model focuses on collaboration between agencies and divisions, likely as a sign

Community policing as a concept is mainly about allowing the community a voice in determining the priorities law enforcement. Allen & Sawhney (2015) defines community police as collaborative effort between police and the community they serve to customize the delivery of police services (p. 307). In order to utilize the community policing approach, it is important for agencies to have a strong bond and trust with the community they serve. Without this trust, creative policing innovations fall short. Despite what shortcomings the approach to policing may have for law enforcement, the popularity of community led or community based policing is on the rise in America. American law enforcement as an industry faces a never-ending public relations crisis, especially during the onset of tough on crime approaches prevalent in of the last forty years. Within the two decades, community police strategies based on bringing key stakeholders together to

Juveniles get disobedient and become trouble makers when they have a broken home because they don’t know what it feels like to have someone who gives them love. They look upon their so called “friends” to confer them when they feel sad or feeling like they don’t fit in. These “friends” end up being a bad influences because they put in the mind of the juvenile that the only way they get away from the pain of

Adolescence is a period of life full of growth both physically and emotionally, shaping of who a person is, and learning from the people one is surrounded by. During this time adolescents begin to realize that rules are man-made, and in an attempt to assert independence and become autonomous, they often create conflict with parents and other authority figures. Research suggests that behavior problems can stem from the child, the parent, their relationship with each other, or their environment (Holden 248). The presence and attentiveness of caregivers is vital for adolescents to appropriately develop. Parental support is defined as the level of involvement, love, emotional availability, and responsiveness shown by a parent figure (Holden 119). Parents who provide proper support for their children must also make it a priority to know their children. Monitoring is a parent’s knowledge of who a child is with and where the child is at and involves both the willingness of the child to communicate and to disclose such information (Holden 286). Criminologists find consistent evidence to support that a child’s strong attachment to his or her parents and close supervision provided by parents are correlated, which ultimately cultivates lower crime rates (Brauer 1). When juveniles lack these factors necessary to develop into stable adults, they may search for support or approval elsewhere and often turning to juvenile delinquency to achieve it. In simple terms, juvenile delinquency is